Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-07-16


ones shall Do abss.i tsforc thoe. Thou shalt
read the hearts Of men as an open writing,
and hithor and thither shalt thou lead them
a. thy pleasure llsteth. Like that old
Sphinx Of Egypt shalt thou sit nloft from ago
TO age, and ever shall they CRY to thee TO
solve the riddle OF thy greatness that doth
not pass away, and ever shalt thou mock
tbsn, with silence.
@Bcholdl once more kis thee. and by that
kiss give thea dominion over sea and earth,
over the peasant In his hovel, over the mon
arch In his palace halls and cities crowned
with towers, and those who breathe theroln.
Where'er the sun shakes out his spears,
wherser the lonesome waters mirror up the
moon, where'er storms roll, and heavens
painted bows arch In the sky-from the pure
north shrouded In her SHOWS, across the mid
die spaces Of tho world, to where the amorous
south, lying like bride upon her azure seas,
breathes in signs made sweet with myrtle
bloom-there shall thy power pass aud thy
dominion find home. Nor sickness, nor icy
fingered fear, nor sorrow, and pale waste Of
form and mind lowering ever DER humanity
shall 30 mueh as shadow thee with the shadow
of their wings. As a god shalt thou be, bold
ing good and owl in the hollow Of thy hand,
and !, oven /, humble myself before thee.
Such IA the powcs OF lore, and such l. tho
bridal giit give untofhee, Kallilrates, royal
son of Ra. my lord and lord Of all
aAnd now 1t Is done--and como storm,
come shine, come good, come OWL, como life,
some death, II never, never can be undono
For OF truth, that which Is, Is, and being
done, Is done for ay, and cannot be altered.
havo said-Let us hence, that all things may
DO accomplished IN their ORDER" and, taking
one Of the lamps, she advanced toward tho
end Of the chamber that was rooted In by the
swaying stone, where she halted.
We followed her and perceived that In tho
wall of the cone there was O stair, or, to DO
more accurate, that some projecting knobs Of
rock had been 80 shaped as to form good
imitation of stair. Down this Ayesha began
10 climb, springing from step to stop like a
chamois. and after her we followed with
less grace. When we had descended
some fifteen or sixteen steps we found that
they ended In tremendous rocky slope,
running first outward and then inward, like
the slope Of an inverted conc or tunnel The
slope was very steep, and often precipitous,
but 1t was nowhere impossible, and by the
light Of the lamps we went down II With no
great difficulty, though II was gloomy work
enough travelling on thus, no ono Of us knew
whittier, in the dead heart Of volcano. As
we went, however, took the precaution Of
noting our route as well as | could; and this
was not difficult, owing to the extraordinary
and most fantastic shape Of the rocks that
were strewn about, many Of which In that
dim light looked more like tho grim faces
carved upon medieval gargoyles than ordi'
nary powders
For long period we Travelled on thus. hall
an hour, should say, till, after we had do
scended for many hundreds Of feet, per
ceiyed that ITO were reaching the point Of the
Inverted cone In another minute we wNc
there, and found that at the very apex Of ths
funnel was passage 80 low and narrow thai
we had to stoop as we crept along II In Indian
Ale After some fifty yards OF this creeping
tho passage suddenly widenod into o cave, &c
huge that we could see neither the roof MOI
the sides. We only knew that ID was cave
by the echo Of our tread and the perfect quiet
Of the heavy air. On we went for many
minutes In absolute awed silence, like los
souls in the depths Of Tartarus. Ayesha's whit
and ghost like form fitting in front Of rs, til
once more the cavern ended In Q passage
which opened In a second cavern much smaller
than the first Indeed, we could clearly max,
| out the arch and stony banks Of this second
cave and, from their rent and jagged ap
pearance, discovered that, like the first Ions
| passage through which we had passed in thu
| cliff before we came to the ouiyering spur. II
| had to all appearance been torn In the bowl
of the rock by the terrific force of some ex
plosive gas. At length this cave ended In q
| glow OF light
heard Ayesha give Sigh Of relief as rhi'
| light dawned upon us.
at Is well, she said; prepare to entor thu
womb of the earth, wherein she doth con
ceive the life that ye SEQ brought forth IL
man and beast--ay, and in every tree and
| flower"
Swiftly she sped along, and after hes We
stumbled as best we might, our hearts fllet
like cup with mingled dread and curiosity
What were we about 10 sect We passed
down the tunnel; stronger and stronger the
light beamed, reaching us In great aashc.
like the rays from lighthouse, as one bS
one they are thrown upon the darkness Of thu
waters. Nor was this all, for with the fashe.
came soul shaking sound like that Of thun
der and Of crashing trees. Now we wer'
| through it, and--oh, heavensi
We stood in third cavern, some fifty fee
in length by, perhaps, as great height ant
thirty wide. II was carpeted with fine Whit
sand, and its walls had been worn smooth BY
the action of / know not what The cavern
was not dark like the others; ii was flied viii
n soft glow Of rose colored hight, more beauti
full to look on than anything that can be con
ceived- But at first we saw no flashes, nrt
heard NO more Of the thunderous sound
Presently, however, as we stood In amaze
gazing at the wonderful sight and wondering
whence the rosy radiance flowed, q dread Gnt
beautiful thing happened. Across the IA
end Of the cavern, with grinding and srrsh
ing noise-a noise so, dreadful and awe inSpif
ing that we all tremfled, and Job actual.
sunk to- his knees-there famed out IN awfu
cloud or pillar OF fire, like rainbow, man.
colored and like the lightning, bright. Foni
space, perhaps forty seconds, it famed ant
reared thus, turning. slowly round and round
and then by degrees the terrible noise ceased
and with the fire it passed away--I know no
Misunderstanding behind 1t the same rosy GLOW
that we had first seen
"Draw near draw nearF7 cried Ayesha, witt
| a voice of thRilling exnltation. "Behoid th
| very fountain and heart of life as it beats i
the bosom Of the great world. Behold thesuh
stance from which all things draw thei
| n. a II ~ ..,sAl